Speeding fines & tickets - How much do you have to pay?

What happens if you get caught by a speed camera?

The first thing you’re likely to notice is a very bright double flash from behind you. This is the camera taking two photos of you. Often it can seem like a lightning flash…and you’ll feel sick to your stomach straight away.

Not every speed camera gives an obviously noticeable flash. Some speed cameras use infrared lights to get around the need for a bright flash – although you can often still see a mild flash. Typically, though, average speed cameras use more advanced infrared cameras, so they can work day or night, rain or shine (or snow…) and there won't be a flash in sight at all.

This means that more and more, the first you’ll know about being caught speeding will be a letter arriving at your door. Inside the letter will be a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) and a Section 172 notice.

The letter should arrive within 14 days, and then you’ll need to return the completed Section 172 notice within 28 days.

Then you’ll be sent a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN).

This is where you can plead guilty or not guilty.

Pleading guilty means you’re accepting the fine and some points being added to your licence.

You might be offered a speed awareness course if this is your first time you’ve been caught speeding, or the last time you went on a speeding course was more than three years ago.

Pleading guilty means you’ll need to go to court. If you plead not guilty and are then found guilty, the fines and points you’ll get will probably be higher.

How long does it take to get a speeding ticket?

You should receive your Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) and a Section 172 notice inside of 14 days of your car being caught speeding.

Exactly how long it takes for a speeding fine to come through depends on what system caught you, which police force is handling the notice, and the time of year. It can be very stressful waiting for a ticket so practise self-care and talk it through your partner/family, so it’s not a secret and you can plan a way to get the extra money.

The 14-day speeding ticket rule

You may have heard that if you get a speeding ticket through the post more than 14 days after the vehicle you own was photographed speeding, the ticket can be cancelled. There is some truth to this, but the rules are more complicated than that.

All the police need to do is show the ticket should have reached the vehicle’s registered owner under normal circumstances within 14 days.

This means the letter could go to an old address if you’ve not updated your licence, it could go to a hire company or to your work address if the vehicle isn’t yours. If it gets to one of these within 14 days, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t reach your address for another fortnight. It also means delays caused by postal problems don’t affect the rule – if it was posted in time for a normal service to get the letter to you, a four-day strike won’t sway the courts.

The 14 days also does not include the day of the speeding offence.

When can the 14-day rule be applied?

If the ticket was issued – written up, created – outside of 14 days after the speeding incident, then there may be a possibility the ticket could be time barred (cancelled). However, there’s no guarantee, and by contesting the ticket, you could end up with a bigger fine and more points.

How much is a ticket if you go 20mph over the speed limit?

Exceeding a speed limit by more than 20mph in a 20mph or 30mph zone means you’ll get a fairly serious fine known as a Band C fine – six penalty points and a fine of 125-175% of your weekly income.

You can also be disqualified for between seven and 56 days. Faster speed limits give you slightly more leeway, so you’ll likely get a Band B fine – four to six penalty points with the possibility of a seven to 28-day ban, and a fine of 75-125% of your weekly income.

How much is a speeding fine?

Right now, the laws around speeding mean you get different punishments depending on how much you exceeded the speed limit. Band A fines are for exceeding speed limits by smaller amounts, Band C for exceeding by larger amounts:

Remember, if you get 12 points or more over a period of three years, you could be disqualified from driving.

There are also more severe bands D, E and F, which are used for very serious speeding and driving offences.

Band D – 200-300% of your weekly income

Band E – 300-500% of your weekly income

Band F – 500-700% of your weekly income.

The maximum fine is £1,000, rising to £2,500 if you were driving on a motorway.

Should I go to court for a speeding ticket?

If you speed by a large enough amount, you’ll have to go to court. If you don’t appear in court, you’ll almost certainly be found guilty of the offence.

If you receive a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP), you can respond guilty and accept your fine and points. You won’t need to go to court.

You can also respond not guilty, and then will have to attend court.

In this circumstance, it’s up to you whether you opt to take the route that means you need to go to court. If you go to court and are found guilty, your fine and the number of points you get could be higher than if you accepted the NIP.

If it’s your first offence, you may get offered a speed awareness course instead of points and a fine. You may also get offered a speed awareness course if you haven’t been on one for three or more years.

Do speeding tickets increase insurance?

The amount will depend on where you live, how old you are, what car you drive, and any other things about you that insurance companies want to take into account when they quote you a price for insurance.

The more points you have, the larger the increase on your insurance premium.

If you took a speed awareness course – which you attend instead of taking points on your licence – your premium won’t go up.

If you do get points from a speeding fine, you can try using a telematics insurance policy. This is when you have a black box fitted into your vehicle and measures how you drive, including your speed. If you drive safely, insurers can lower your premium.